Pigtails
by SortaObsessed
Summary: Winry made a deal that if Edward destroyed his automail one more time, she would get to style his hair.


**Pigtails**

The sound of her dog barking made Winry stop tinkering at her work bench. The only time she heard her dog bark like that was when a certain special visitor was just around the bend.

The blonde could already tell that it was Ed and Al coming to see her. But something told her that they weren't there just to visit. Why else would they come all this way just to see how she was doing?

Pushing that thought aside, Winry stood up from her hunched position and stretched. She then grabbed a wrench and made her way over to the front door. Opening the door, she could see two figures in the distance.

Once they came closer and closer, Winry was able to tell that they were in fact Edward and Alphonse Elric. The mechanic was a bit surprised by their unexpected visit. She always told Ed to call her before showing up at her front door.

"He just doesn't listen does he." Winry mumbled to herself. She waved to them otherwise.

At closer inspection, she knew something was off. Edward looked somewhat unsettled, almost like he was hiding something.

"How many times do I have to tell you! Call me before just showing up like this!" Winry nagged once the brothers reached the front entrance.

"Yeah nice to see you too." Ed rolled his eyes at the steaming blonde in front of him.

"Hello Winry! Sorry for just dropping by. It's just that brother had a little...accident and we were hoping you would have some spare time." Alphonse stepped in scratching the back of his 'neck'.

Winry stopped dead in her tracks and cranked her neck slowly toward Ed. She was almost afraid to ask what the accident could have done to her automail.

"What do you mean an accident?" Winry asked through clenched teeth. Knowing Ed, it had to be something reckless for sure.

It was Edwards turn to sheepishly scratch his neck. "Ah well it really wasn't that big of a deal." He laughed uneasily.

"Don't laugh about this! Let me see your arm. I swear if it's..." Winry grabbed his automail arm that was still attached to him and pulled his sleeve up. When she got one look at it she screamed.

"My automail! What did you do?! You better have a good explanation alchemy freak!"

Winry was shaking with clenched fists. She had put in a lot of effort when making her friend that automail. It was completely custom made using only the finest materials in Amestris. Why on earth didn't he treat her work with respect?!

"I sorta got carried away when Armstrong challenged me to armwrestling. And I may not have been doing any maintenance so it kinda just snapped and..." Just when Edward finished explaining, Winry hurled a wrench right to his head.

He instantly fell to the ground once the wrench collided with his face.

Almost right away, Ed stood up holding the part that was already starting to bruise on his face.

"What the hell Winry?! Are you trying to kill me?!"

"You told me you neglected your maintenance! How could you do something so irresponsible?!" Winry was fuming, her knuckles turning white from clenching her fists so tight.

"Doesn't mean you need to throw your wrenches at me you gear head!"

Alphonse awkwardly stood between the two who were brawling at the front door. He wasn't going to bring himself into this quarrel. Especially when there were wrenches involved.

"Is it really that hard of a task to do?! And do you really expect me to pause everything I'm doing just to fix your automail that you broke?!"

The blondes were almost yelling into each other's faces and neither of them were fazed by this. This heated argument didn't look like it would subside anytime soon.

"Well that's why I'm here!"

Alphonse knew that Edward was just about ready to have his ass handed to him. The way he was acting right now wasn't making the situation any better. All he had to do was just apologize to her.

But unfortunately, Edward didn't work that way.

Winry swallowed down another comeback and decided to take closer inspection of the busted automail.

"Come on in and let me see if I can fix it." She said in an annoyed tone. The Elrics were surprised by her sudden change in mood but followed her in the building.

Winry lead them to her work bench and motioned for Ed to sit on a chair. He took off his red coat so that Winry could take a closer look. Here she inspected his automail arm to see where the damage was done.

"It's a wonder how it's still hanging by a couple wires. I thought for sure it would be in two pieces by now." Winry said looking at how the wires were the only thing keeping the arm from ripping in half by the elbow.

The blonde mechanic did a little more tinkering before she suddenly stopped. There was a glint in her eye that told Edward something was up. And he had a feeling it wasn't going to be good for his sake.

"Call me crazy but I do remember making a deal that if you broke your automail again in a careless way, you would let me do your hair."

Ed snapped his gaze towards her. He had a look that meant this was news to him.

"You're crazy!"

Winry set down her tools and glared at the young alchemist. "Don't tell me you forgot Ed. I specifically told you and you agreed."

"She's right brother." Alphonse quietly added in which caused Edward to flinch. "Not helping Al!"

Winry smirked. "Seems as if you're the only one who forgot. Oh well, a deals a deal. You carelessly broke your automail so I get to do your hair. And when I say that I'll do your hair, you have to keep it in for the rest of the day." She then crossed her arms in satisfaction.

Edward almost fell out of the chair he was sitting in just as the words left Winry's mouth. "All day?! That's not even part of the deal! I only agreed to it so that you would stop nagging me!"

Winry was amused by the way he was reacting. "I guess you need to know what you're agreeing to before you make a deal. Oh well. If you want your arm fixed, you're going to have to do your end of the bargain."

Edward stayed silent for a moment, unable to find the right thing to say. There was absolutely no way out of this. If he wanted to be able to research further on the philosophers stone, he needed a full functioning arm.

Edward lowered his head so his bangs were covering his eyes shamefully. "Get the hairbrush." He muttered reluctantly.

Almost right away, Winry squealed out of pure excitement. Ed winced at the sound that attacked his ear drums.

"I knew you'd give in. Well I'll go get my supplies! Be right back!" The girl with the ponytail scurried out of the room in a hurry. Edward let his head fall flat down onto the work table near him. He wasn't very ecstatic to have his hair done by a girl.

"It's not that bad. Maybe all Winry knows is how to do a ponytail." Alphonse said trying to lift his brother's spirits. In all actuality, Al knew that the deal was going to come back to haunt Edward someday. Who knew it would have been today?

A smiling blonde came back into the room. She was fully equipped with a hairbrush and hair elastics.

"I'll need you to sit onto the floor so that I can use the chair." Winry instructed. The way she wielded the hairbrush made Ed nervous. He made a mental note not to piss her off when she's brushing his hair.

Once Edward sat onto the wood floor, Winry brought the chair over to him and sat onto it. "So what were you planing on doing?" The short alchemist asked hesitantly. All he got in response was, "you'll see."

Winry went ahead and undid Edward's current braid. When the hair was loose she took the brush and began to work her way through his hair.

"Ow Winry! Are you trying to rip my hair out or what?!" Ed yelled at how rough she was brushing his hair. It was as if she was using all of her strength just to do a simple task.

"Stop complaining." She said flatly and continued brushing his hair until all of the knots were out.

At this point Ed was trying to massage his sore scalp with his flesh arm. "Way to be gentile Winry." He groaned just as she was separating his hair into two sections.

"Not my fault your hair was full of knots. Have you ever tried brushing it before?"

"Ha. Ha. Good one."

Alphonse observed the two silently from a far. It was funny to watch Winry pull Ed's hair on purpose while he barked complaints back to her. They were like little children when they fought.

"Stop pulling so tight! I can't feel my scalp!" Edward winced again as she pulled harder than last time. Winry rolled her eyes but continued the same braiding she was doing.

"If I don't pull tight then the braid will be too loose." The girl explained as she worked on Ed's hair.

Each time she lifted a piece of hair, added it to the braid and pulled; Ed would let out a sharp cry. The whole maneuver was painful. Winry Ignored his pained helps and finished one side of his hair.

"I'm finished one side! What do you think Al?" Winry turned Edward's head so Alphonse could see the half finished product.

"That looks really good Winry!" He praised and she gave him a genuine smile. "Thanks Al!"

"I bet it looks stupid." Ed grumbled and received a knock on the head with a hairbrush.

"Be quiet Ed. I'm not finished just yet." Winry scolded and began working on the other side of his head. She was getting faster at the braiding so it didn't hurt as much.

"So how did you learn to do hair Winry?" The suit of armor asked once he thought that the room had gotten too quiet. He honestly was wondering about that ever since she made the bet though.

"Well back when I was little I used to practice on my own hair. And now I guess you could say I have gotten the hang of it." Right then she closed off the other braid with a hair elastic. She was finally done.

"All done!" Winry said and then examined her work. She couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

Edward was not amused. "Yeah yeah laugh it up."

"No no you look cute! Honest! I think you really suit French braid pigtails." The mechanic played around with the pigtails to make sure they were even.

She then handed Ed a handheld mirror so that he could see the finished product. When he glanced at his reflection, he looked utterly horrified.

Edward's bangs were still in place. But instead of one braid running down the back of his head, he had two pigtail braids on either side. What made it even worse was that they started at the top of his head like french braids do.

He honestly looked like some little girl. He was not impressed. "You couldn't have done anything else less embarrassing?!" He said incredulously still looking at himself in the mirror.

Winry giggled. "That would take the fun out of it. Plus I just learned how to do those. You were the first person I did them on."

The alchemist put down the mirror so that he didn't have to be faced with his awful reflection. He just hoped Winry would finally fix his automail now that she had tortured him.

"I'll get working on your automail now. It'll only take me a few hours tops."

That was music to Edward's ears.

* * *

"Glad you guys stopped by!" Winry smiled just as the brothers were about ready to leave. The girl had finished Ed's automail arm so it was now time to part ways. "Yeah it was nice to see you." Al's sweet voice replied.

Edward was still moping around about the pigtails situation. He couldn't believe that Winry had the nerve to make him go out in public like this.

"Oh and Ed." Winry came up close to his face unexpectedly. "Don't you think about fixing your hair." She had an all knowing expression as if she knew what he was planning on doing. It was pretty obvious otherwise.

"Wouldn't think of it!" He awkwardly laughed just as he caught a glimpse of the wrench in her right hand. He could live without a new bruise on his head.

On the contrary...

Maybe a hit on the head would be much better than letting Mustang see him like this.


End file.
